The Coppell School Health Advisory Council, a district-appointed group of parents, community members, students and district staff, discussed prevailing health concerns with the board of trustees at a May 20 meeting. The council recommended adding health as a required course for high school graduation, hosting health expos at elementary campuses, and hosting wellness weeks at athletic and fine arts summer camps.
“CISD and SHAC together have an opportunity to facilitate hope, inspire and unite on this front," council parent chair Wednesday Foster said.
The details
The health expos would cover social and emotional learning, nutrition, growth, and development in this daylong event. Fifth graders would participate in educational sessions, games and physical activities on a rotation schedule, Foster said. The program has been implemented at Austin and Town Center elementary schools, and the council wants to expand it to every elementary campus.
“We would like to institute that for the coming school year, and [the council] can come in and provide community partners for presenting funding if that's required,” Foster said.
Similarly, the wellness weeks would be implemented at all athletic and fine arts summer camps. The week will have themed activities each day, such as “Mindfulness Monday,” where mindful breathing may be taught, or “Tasty Tuesday,” where athletic and fine arts students will learn about performance nutrition, she said.
On the curriculum side, the council recommended adding the health science course as a high school graduating requirement, Foster said.
“We are at the ready to find funding to support that,” she said.
The backstory
The council’s recommendations stemmed from Center for Disease Control and Prevention data collected between 2011 and 2021 through surveys identifying national youth behavior risk trends in grades 9-12. The surveys found increases in teen obesity, video game screen time, suicidal thoughts and tobacco use, Foster said.
While cigarette use has decreased, the use of electronic vapes has increased from 10.3% in 2011 to 18.7% in 2021, she said. The council will address these issues in part of the summer camp wellness week schedules, which will outline a day for risk prevention.
“This year I am proposing that it is about vaping. We have a pediatric pulmonologist who has already agreed to give those presentations,” Foster said.
Going forward
The district may be able to dip its toe into the wellness weeks at this summer’s camps, but the health expos and curriculum updates may require input from elementary and high school administration as well as additional discussion on the initiative’s impact before implementation, Superintendent Brad Hunt said.
The district removed health science as a graduation requisite course prior to Hunt’s tenure as superintendent, and the administration would need to evaluate the previous decision to better determine an action plan, Hunt said. The district will filter all the council’s recommendations and bring forward concrete changes for board approval at a future meeting.
“These are lessons that are going to lead students beyond Coppell ISD, and these are lifelong habits we want people to follow,” Hunt said.
